Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [44]
As I come up from the subway in the evening I notice the first full moon of March high above. Perhaps it’s the first time I’ve glanced up from a beer in eight days.
Later in the evening I host a Café Centro (at Grand Central Station–Met Life Building) gourmet beer dinner organized by Steve Hindy and the good folks at Brooklyn Brewing Company. Great food and great beer are enjoyed by the attending homebrewers and beer enthusiasts.
Day 9: Packed and out of the apartment by 8:30 A.M. Tony Forder, publisher of Ale Street News and co–media sponsor of our “beer to heaven” tour, picks us up, and we’re suddenly on the road to Connecticut. Our first stop is at Hartford’s Troutfish Brewery and Restaurant for a lunch with American Homebrewers Association members and homebrew enthusiasts. There, Bill Metzger, publisher of Yankee Brew News and co–media sponsor of the tour, joins us. Lunch is over, but the afternoon beers have just begun. We are soon off to Connecticut’s first brewpub, the Hartford Brewery. Afterward we walk over to Ron Page’s realm, the relatively new City Steam Brewery and Restaurant.
Paul Zocco, our driving and organizational host of the day, continues to herd us forward as we migrate to a small homebrew shop in East Hartford for a sampling of beers.
We stop briefly to pick up our rental car for the next five days. There’s no time to waste, as we’re instantly off to the Hop River Homebrew “Clubhouse” for a quick peek at a great little home brewery and meeting site.
It is 5:45 and we are in the small town of Willimantic, checking into our bed-and-breakfast accommodations. After a 15-minute catnap and a change of clothes, we crawl to the Willimantic Brewery and Main Street Café to be greeted by a packed house of 80-plus American Homebrewers Association members and beer enthusiasts. The brewery is in a historic post office building. The grand ceilings, artwork, sight of brewing kettles and excitement of the evening instantly rejuvenate both Sandra and me. The specially prepared beer dinner is superb and is complemented with beers exquisite. If ever there is doubt that small-town America cannot support a small brewery, visit Willimantic. The hospitality, food and beer are worth the journey. The energy is uplifting, and Sandra and I enjoy the company well into the night.
Ron Page and Tony Forder “fluting” in the City Steam Brewery, Hartford
Day 10: A short trip down the road we make a quick morning stop at the under-consideration Old Wyndham Brewery, located at a picturesque mill site along the Shetucket River. Then we drive northeast to Natick, Massachusetts, for a lunch visit at Barley Corn Craft Brew “Brew-on-Premise” and Homebrew Supply. There are lots of customers, and a sunny day greets us in downtown Natick. By 2 P.M. we’re leaving, driving off toward Worcester, Massachusetts.
We check in at the no-frills Super 8 somewhere motel along an interstate, then have dinner with Phil Tetarult, president of the WIZARDS homebrew club, Brian Powers (Strangebrew Homebrew Shop) and Bruce Susel (Vinotheque) at the Gentle Lentil, a super restaurant serving natural and locally made cuisine. Greg Hagopian, the owner, is an enthusiastic homebrewer, and it shows in his restaurant.
This evening’s gig is at the Plantation Club Draft House for a speaking engagement and more beer tasting with about 100 American Homebrewers Association members, homebrewers, beer enthusiasts and shop owners. Outside it’s cold and pouring buckets of rain, but it doesn’t matter—we’re warming with beer and friends.
Day 11: Yet again we head north, this time to Manchester, New Hampshire. By noon we arrive for a grand reception at Steve and Darlene Fried-man’s Red White and Brew Brew-on-Premise and Homebrew Shop. Television, newspapers, brewspapers and 40 to 50 local American Homebrewers Association members, beer enthusiasts and homebrewers are on hand for two and a half hours. The hospitality is so good, we have a hard time getting away